The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a court order freezing the assets of a Greenwich, Conn., investment professional charged with defrauding the the venture capital firm where he worked of $65 million, the SEC announced Thursday.
Iftikar Ahmed of Greenwich overcharged Oak Investment Partners by millions of dollars on a number of transactions over the past 10 years, the SEC says. A Federal District Court judge in Connecticut has issued a preliminary injunction freezing up to $118 million in Ahmed’s funds until the case is decided to cover disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, interest and fines that may be imposed.
According to the SEC's complaint, in one instance, Ahmed had Oak funds pay $20 million for a $2 million stake in an Asian e-commerce joint venture. He pocketed the $18 million excess for himself, the SEC says.
In another instance, the SEC says an Oak fund overpaid for shares in a China-based e-commerce company, allowing Ahmed to pocket $2 million. He also advised an Oak fund to invest in companies that he held an interest in without disclosing his interest to the the Oak investors, the SEC says.
Ahmed altered deal documents, used fictitious invoices and directed Oak to make payments to bank accounts of the companies receiving the investments when the accounts were actually under Ahmed’s control, the complaint says. After the funds were deposited, he allegedly transferred the money into accounts in his name and the names of family members.